Randy Olson > Quotes

“In 2009, I attended Book Expo in New York City, where they had three editors of bestselling novels on a panel discussion. At the end of the discussion, the moderator asked the editors if they could make one prediction about the future of novel writing. They all thought for a moment, then one of them said that in the future, you won’t have forty to fifty pages of set up in a murder mystery before the body is discovered. To the contrary, the dead body will have to appear in the first few pages, as people’s attention spans are clearly waning.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“Last week I sat through a day of environmental talks. You know what I remember from that entire day? Only one thing-the story a guy told about how he was sitting on an airplane and the lady next to him asked for cream for her coffee, but when they brought her the small plastic containers of cream, she said, "No thanks; the plastic isn't biodegradable." And he thought to himself, "I can hardly hear her over the jet engines that are burning up fifty gazillion barrels of fuel a minute, and she's worried about a thimble-sized piece of plastic?"
That's all I remember from that day. Why is that? It's the power of a well-told story that is also very specific. Stories that are full of vague generalizations are weak. Specifics give them strength.”
― Randy Olson, Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style

“Truly Be the Voice of Science
If you want to make a major contribution to science communication, you need to know from the outset that it will be a long and personal journey. It won't be easy. It won't be safe. And it's doubtful you'll be able to control the timeline.
No one told Carl Sagan to write science fiction novels, get involved with Hollywood filmmaking, or go on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. He simply had an inner voice driving him to reach out and share his passion for science. He was the voice of science, by his own doing.”
― Randy Olson, Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style

“when there was familiarity with the story, it was the superlatives that had more impact than the specifics. But once the familiarity was lost, the need returns for the power and specifics of the individual narratives. And the more detailed and specific, the more powerful.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“Robert McKee, the uber-guru of Hollywood screenwriting, in his masterwork, Story, describes what he calls “The Law of Conflict for storytelling,” which is that, “Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“This is the dilemma of science-think and yet again a situation in which scientists simply shouldn't be such scientists. Bring in the professionals, and trust them when they tell you to invest in communication. It may be frustrating and seem like a frivolous waste of resources, but what's the alternative strategy—to assume that people are rational, thinking beings? There's a famous quote by Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, who heard a woman shout to him that all the thinking people of America were with him. He replied, “That's not going to be enough, Madam; I need a majority of the public.”
― Randy Olson, Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style

“Keith Johnstone, author of the seminal improv work Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, offers a brilliant quote on the subject: “There are people who prefer to say ‘Yes,’ and there are people who prefer to say ‘No.’ Those who say ‘Yes’ are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say ‘No’ are rewarded by the safety they attain.” Will you attain your message objectives by playing it safe?”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“Man is many things, but rational is not one of them.” — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“being relatable is so incredibly important. Important, and hardly new. Philosopher David Hume stated as much in the 18th century when he said, “Reason is the slave of the passions.” Let’s put it so my regular folks will relate: “Smarts lose to Feelings.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“The other book I've thought about writing is a thorough review of the state of science literacy in America today. It would examine the literary and popular image of scientists in our culture—how they are portrayed in movies and what effect that has on the public's support for science in general. Fortunately, that job has been covered by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum in Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future,”
― Randy Olson, Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style

“One woman in communications talked about the cultural divide between the communicators and the scientists, which turns out to be almost a universal dilemma at scientific institutions. The rift in cultures was brought home by a simple example. She said, “We go to the scientists and ask them what they would like us to communicate to the general public. Almost invariably they reply, ‘We want you to tell the story of the CDC.’  We say, ‘Great, but what is the story of the CDC?’ They look at us with frustration bordering on anger and reply, ‘You know, it’s all the diseases we cure here, the amazing teams of researchers, the drugs we develop…’ But, we cut them off and say, ‘That’s all great, but that’s not a story. That’s only information. A story begins when something happens.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“Story is a set of details about a person’s (or persons’) experience, arranged in a deliberate structure, which gives it specific meaning and universal appeal. Story structure is a process in which a hero does something challenging in order to gain something crucial.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“Popular writers like to tell big stories. Scientists like to tell the truth.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“Although the mind may be part of your target, the heart is the bull’s-eye.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“Rule of Replacing.” He says, “I sort of always call it the rule of replacing ‘ands’ with either ‘buts’ or ‘therefores,’ and so it’s always like ‘this happens’ and then this happens and then this happens—whenever I can go back in the writing and change that to—this happens, therefore this happens, but this happens—whenever you can replace your ‘ands’ with ‘buts’ or ‘therefores,’ it makes for better writing.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking

“It really does make you feel like a better person to be able to answer the question, “What do you do for a living?” with a story that fascinates people, instead of a ramble that ends with, “… um … that kinda thing, you know.”
― Randy Olson, Connection: Hollywood Storytelling meets Critical Thinking